How do I stop making careless mistakes

[kurrymuncher]

After doing all these methods practice exams, im noticing a massive increase in careless mistakes and its driving me crazy. The amount of mistakes increase after each practice exam. How do i stop this or just reduce the amount of careless mistakes.

I know its really hard to permenantly stop making mistakes but i really need to stop this, its pissing me off and im going mental....... :tickedoff: :tickedoff: :tickedoff:

[dekoyl]

A few threads down.. I asked the same question. (See "Mathematical skills deteriorating?")

Just relax for a bit and take it easy. Stop doing practice exams for a few days. Honestly it'll help.

[/0]

My teacher said preparing for exams is like preparing for an athletic event. You do a lot of training and then in the time leading up to the event you gradually ease up on your training. Otherwise you will be to tired to compete. Mental stamina is as real as physical stamina.

[danieltennis]

I think you're physically and mentally burnt out from the study load on the holidays. You should take a few days off to recover and slowly start revising for the exams. Your mind is probaly too stressed out and causing serious malfunctions to your brain cells, detoriatating your mathematics skills. Hence, leading to careless mistakes. Plus, you should play some sport to lose some calories and this will help to relax your mind.  

[excal]

After doing all these methods practice exams, im noticing a massive increase in careless mistakes and its driving me crazy. The amount of mistakes increase after each practice exam. How do i stop this or just reduce the amount of careless mistakes.

I know its really hard to permenantly stop making mistakes but i really need to stop this, its pissing me off and im going mental....... :tickedoff: :tickedoff: :tickedoff:

Read the question.

Slow down.

Take a breath.

Write.

Pressure does weird things to people, so the important thing is to relax. You have the knowledge, you just need to spill it out in a controlled fashion. Something like information overload in reverse is never good for you in an exam...

[Collin Li]

Identify where you are systematically making mistakes.

[midas_touch]

Also, don't try and do questions too quickly, especially at this stage. The speed will come naturally as you gain more and more confidence.

[Collin Li]

Also, don't try and do questions too quickly, especially at this stage. The speed will come naturally as you gain more and more confidence.

Oh... that's a really good tip! I can't say this was ever my downfall, because I never focused on speed. I have always focused on trying to get the question out. When you develop these abilities, you naturally develop speed - rather than artificially enforcing it. I also don't do my exams with a watch, but I don't really condone that...

Although time management is important, it doesn't mean you should rush your thoughts. It means you should know when to turn the page to the next question if the current question takes you too long.

[methodsboy]

get off urfat ass and start doing excercise !!!!!!!!:)

[midas_touch]

...says METHODSboy

[ReVeL]

Yeah, the best advice is clearly to give the methods a rest for a day or too.

Plenty of physical activity normally does the trick if I feel abit 'burnt out'.

[methodsboy]

ur the over sized pig. pigs usually make careless mistakes !

[methodsboy]

go roll in the mud!

[kurrymuncher]

ur the over sized pig. pigs usually make careless mistakes !

go roll in the mud!

What are you talking about you idiot?

[Ahmad]

Write neatly.

Don't skip steps in your working out.

Justify each step clearly.

Did you answer the question asked?

Ask yourself if your answer is plausible, is it roughly what you would expect? If not double check. Maybe even guess what the answer may be (or the form the answer should take) before jumping into the question. Use your intuition.

Double check anyway, preferably using a different method (you're not likely to spot a mistake if you use the same method). Use common sense too, if you want to check an integral, differentiate. If you want to check an identity, substitute random numbers and see if it's true.

Try to spot inconsistencies, you're given x > 1/2 and y > 2/3, but you end up with the relationship x + y = 1.

Even if you do all the above, you will still make mistakes, we are all human. Be careful and try your best.